Lucky7Strikes Posted February 18, 2012 (edited) Could you name some modern examples of enlightened people who are also wealthy? I'm trying to think of some and I keep coming up blank. To me there's no difference between Osho and Billy Graham. Â Aaron Osho is a bit different. At a certain point in his life he stopped caring for anything. Everyone who has an account of Osho says he was a very different teacher in his early days compared to his latter "wealthy" days. But really, he just stayed in his room and barely left. He was also very sick. He just did talks here and there and was paraded around by his organization that became increasingly corrupt by all the money it was bringing in through the books, retreats, merchandise, etc. A lot of the controversies we hear about him have not been something he had directly decided to do. Â It's a bit more complicated than, "Osho wanted money and women so manipulated everyone." He is probably one of the most enigmatic teachers in this century. If you read his works or listen to him speak and have any deep experiences with spirituality, it's easy to recognize that this man is not some intellectual fraud or a cultist. His language is more alive on paper than any you can come across. You can't fake that voice for thousands of pages in some planned out and formulated scheme. Edited February 18, 2012 by Lucky7Strikes Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Simple_Jack Posted February 18, 2012 (edited) Edited February 19, 2012 by Simple_Jack Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Simple_Jack Posted February 18, 2012 (edited) . Edited February 5, 2014 by Simple_Jack Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lucky7Strikes Posted February 18, 2012 You are missing the point. You should read Seth's post beforehand to get a better context. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Protector Posted February 18, 2012 Ahh... well isn't this offensive? Why are you denigrating homeless people? Most aren't in that situation because they want to be.  Aaron  awwwwww fiiiiiiiine I will stop making jokes about homeless people and you will stop judging people by how much wealth they might or might not have, deal?  Maybe I could just get lots of money from somewhere else and parade in a nice suit and call myself the smarted enlightened person ever but that wont work and you know it. If I listen to some random rich guy who just thinks he's smart and a thousand other people listen to the rich guy, he will loose his money because of the focus on the wealth.  Let's say two rich people walk into the room and one of them got the money given to him by someone else while the other worked for it. You can instantly tell which one worked for it and which one is a fraud by talking to them. You talk to the both of them and the fraud lies so he wont be found out. Because you don't know the lie from the truth, you assume both are frauds just in case.  Too bad you are here on business and you need the contract with the real guy so you need to see through the fraud right now. Their wealth is not important right now so you look past that and try to see the truth. They both look the same right now but they have a different history, different past and different future.  In the past one of them had an idea that he turned into business and the investors gave him money that he used with his customer's money to create the look he has now and you hope he will keep looking like that in the future because you want some of his money.  The other one had an idea in the past to rob a bank or something. He looks great now but in the future he will go to jail so you don't want to associate with him.  If you are in the same profession, you can ask them both some questions and one of them is going to crack under pressure.  If nothing works, you can use the "learn from the devil" technique. I heard the stories of attachment of a student to the teacher and how it made the student weaker with each generation. A student would work very hard but not hard enough so he never reaches the master's level because he loves the master for giving him so much as it is and doesn't want to take his title away, too. Also there are excuses like, "Oh he can do the horse stance for that long because he is a maaaaaster, maybe when I'm as old as that I could do that stuff."  It's kinda a Taoist thing and this is a Buddhist section buuuuuut... You know what they say about attachments how the longer you hold onto something the worse will be the pain of loosing it. How if you are so rich, you obviously gonna get attention of thieves. How you have high expectations of the teacher in front of you and how later a stronger master beats him up. Duality stuff, eh. Maybe I should have wrote this sentence first but there are people out there who love to read.  Don't judge, just learn. Maybe that person is not very good at this and maybe it's the great and all awesome Buddha. Make the knowledge you get pure just take it without strings attached. Maybe you are not the smartest person in the room but you still have something to say, say it anyway. IT'S KNOWLEDGE! A grain of sand knowledge is heavier then tons of real gold! You have it but someone doesn't, make us both richer.  Ah! I derailed it, too. MORE KNOWLEDGE FOR EVERYONE! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Simple_Jack Posted February 18, 2012 (edited) Edited February 19, 2012 by Simple_Jack Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Protector Posted February 18, 2012 Fiiiine, then whoever wants to could write in their personal forums about what they learned that day, meanwhile you stop raining with your fury on us, deal? Â Â Sign here Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JustARandomPanda Posted February 18, 2012 Fiiiine, then whoever wants to could write in their personal forums about what they learned that day, meanwhile you stop raining with your fury on us, deal? Â Sure thing! Â You're now on my permanent Ignore list. Â Â *waves* Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Protector Posted February 18, 2012 Sure thing!  You're now on my permanent Ignore list.   *waves*  NNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOO How do you learn about my brilliant brilliance then? Oh well, one less to worry about  Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JustARandomPanda Posted February 18, 2012 NNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOO How do you learn about my brilliant brilliance then? Oh well, one less to worry about     Hah! I just discovered apparently mods can't put peeps on ignore lists!  Ah! good thing for me right?!  I will still get to see brilliant Sinfest posts.     I'm outa here peeps. I'm gonna go get rain on my face, wind in my hair, pet a neighbor's dog and play my guitar.  Have lots o fun in the Buddhist forum! Make this forum fun! That's the only advice I have to give. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Protector Posted February 18, 2012 Can't escape huh? I mean *cough* MORE FUN! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFIs74TmfI4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
